Tag Archives: equipment

There Be Dragons …

Teardrop Trail Log: June 13, 2016

I guess I should be grateful we didn’t have more problems. If you think about it, trailering is an unlikely pastime, wherein one drags a small metal box on wheels at high speed over sometimes nasty, bumpy roads and expects everything to arrive at the same time. Then there’s the summer heat, rain, and wind — all of which can be extreme. Top it off by camping in the woods with open campfires, animal encounters and rutted trails masquerading as roads, and it’s a wonder things go as smoothly as they do. It’s a testament to the essential hopefulness and naïveté of the average camper. Certainly it describes our view of staying in the woods.

Repairing the antenna tube

Looking back, I understand our first several trips were usually trouble-free. Perhaps it was payback time. After a day of construction, rain, and detours, I thought we might have taken our lumps. As it turned out, we were just getting started. Day 2 dawned cool and overcast, and wonder of wonders, there was a Starbucks nearby. We went in and ordered, and within minutes I was in possession of the magic elixir. A Mocha. On the way back to the rig, I noticed that the antenna storage tube was askew. One of the supports had broken. Better fix it.

I decided to run our solar beer cooler while we were on the road. The day promised to be sunny, and I would have cold beer while setting up camp. Off we went through Paris, Texas, on our way to Joplin. Easy travel.

Dropping voltage

Since I was curious how much power we were generating and using with the beer cooler, I checked the voltage monitor every time we stopped. The battery voltage was falling slowly, suggesting the solar panel wasn’t keeping up, but nothing to worry about. Then during one of our stops, I noticed that the battery voltage had dropped by two volts. Not normal behavior. Considering the problem while we drove the next leg of the trip, I realized that one cell in the battery had catastrophically failed. This battery was toast.

We would have to find another. Marilyn got to work with the maps. As she plotted routes and queried the web, I mused on the rotten luck. What were the odds? Batteries don’t normally fail like this. On the other hand, it was over a year old. Maybe the battery maintainer wasn’t very good. Then, she announced her result. There was a Costco in southeast Kansas City, and going there would only take us a few miles out of our way. The camping gods had smiled.

We stopped at Costco, bought a replacement battery, and installed it in the parking lot to recover the core charge. Even so, we arrived at the Jacomo Campground by 7. Plenty of light to set up while Marilyn cooked a delicious dinner. Maybe we had finally paid our karma debt and could sail unconcerned into the adventure!

A New Battery

Easy Leveling with an Atwood Stabilizer Jack

Jim, July 31:

The new storage box and galley table would certainly improve our setup and strike time, but I was sure it could be improved a little more. When we drive into a campsite, one of the first jobs is to level the trailer. Up to now, I used two scissor jacks (one under each rear corner of the trailer) and that worked well enough. Scissor jacks are fiddly and can be hard to use. They certainly aren’t quick. The light-weight jacks had to be extended by hand until they could be wedged under the trailer because they would “dance around” while turning the adjustment screw. They couldn’t be stored under the trailer. I thought we could do better.

Atwood Stabilizer Jack — Deployed

Looking around at other RVs, I learned about a “stabilizer jack”. Intended for leveling a trailer and designed to store under it, they seemed to fit the bill. A quick cruise on Amazon, and we had a candidate — the Atwood 82301stabilizer jack. I ordered a set of three. One for the tongue and one for each rear corner.

The Atwood stabilizer jacks can be either bolted or welded onto the trailer. My friend Jason at Vintage Motor Car agreed that welding would be best. A day or two later, they were installed. A little black spray paint, and the job was done.

Atwood Stabilizer Jack — Retracted

The jacks hide under the trailer when not in use, and only take a couple inches of ground clearance. Deployment is easy. Pull into the site, swing the two rear jacks down into the locked position and then deploy the front stabilizer jack the same way. The trailer sits pretty low to the ground, so occasionally I dig a little ground out from under the jack before it swings into place.

Jack handle in use

The final step is using the steel handle to adjust each jack’s height while watching a bubble level. The recommended jack handle (purchased separately) is rather short and will only install in the jack if all the holes are perfectly aligned — not always the case. A “heel” pry bar with a tapered end is both longer and will work with less perfectly aligned holes. The 16-inch pry bar (purchased in a set of four for $12 from a Red Power Roundup tool vendor) was the perfect size. Amazon has a similar product from about $25.

Pry Bar Set

Each stabilizer jack has a 650-pound work capacity and a 1000-pound support capacity. They measure 11 1/2-inches retracted and extend to 17 3/4-inches. I carry an assortment of wood blocks from 1/2-inch to 3 1/2-inches in thickness to account for sloping campsites. Also, I carry one scissors jack for unforeseen circumstances from pulling a stuck trailer hitch to changing a tire. That satisfies my “belt and suspenders (and belt)” approach. So far, we’ve been able to meet every camping challenge!

Pry Bar vs. Atwood jack handle

Solar Power on the Teardrop Trail

In an earlier post, we described a simple solar system for the our teardrop. With only a 15-watt capacity, we needed to upgrade and did so last year. We’ve gotten some questions about our solar power installation on the teardrop, and I wanted to share what we’ve done. This a work in progress, but during our recent Big Bend trip, we never hooked the trailer up to shore power (aka 120 volt hookups) and used solar power almost exclusively. It’s important to state our goals however, we didn’t intend to replace shore power. Instead, we wanted to extend the practical range of our trailer, making it possible to use primitive campsites for days at a time. This is where solar power can really shine (pun intended) on a small trailer.

There are several elements to a solar system. At minimum, a solar panel, a storage battery and some kind of charge controller are needed. Additions include 120/240-volt capabilities like battery chargers and inverters. Our system is almost exclusively 12-volt. With it we run lighting and have the ability to charge multiple devices such as smart phones, tablets, a laptop and digital cameras. We even have the ability to run a few high current 12-volt appliances like an electric tea kettle intermittently. Our trailer has a 7500 BTU air conditioner (this is Texas after all), but that must be run on shore power.

photo of battery, charger and charge controller

Charge controller in place

Broadly speaking, there are two types of charge controllers: Maximum Power Point Transfer (MPPT) and Pulse Width Modulation (PWM). Both have their advantages, but a PWM controller won in cost and efficiency for our particular application: hot, sunny climates and systems of 170 watts or less. An article with a more complete comparison may help with your decision.

Here’s what we ended up with:

Renogy® 100-Watt Monocrystalline Bendable Solar Panel (update: no longer available, but this panel is similar)
Renogy® 10-Amp PWM Solar Charge Controller (update: no longer available, but this controller is similar)
Interstate Group 27 Marine Deep Cycle/Starting Battery (available from Costco)
Jensen JMP-800 75-Watt Power Inverter (plugs into a 12 volt outlet for occasional use)

Fortunately, our trailer was built with dual wiring: 12 and 120-volt. There is 120-volt power in both the galley and interior, and a 12-volt outlet is available in the interior. I added a 12-volt feed into the interior cabinets to power a Ten-Tec Triton II amateur radio. Most of the installation work involved mounting the solar panel on the trailer’s roof. The charge controller was mounted in the galley storage adjacent to the battery. The trailer was already equipped with a small charger, and it charges the battery when we’re hooked up to shore power. The solar panel can be removed from the roof and located away from the trailer using an extension cord. This way, we can park the trailer in a shady spot while the panel is located in the sun. The photos show the mounting screw installation process.

: Tapping into the aluminum skin with a double-ended screw

: Re-mounting the screw with marine epoxy

Incandescent Bulb

The trailer came with 12-volt automotive light fixtures and incandescent bulbs.

LED “corn” lamp

These were replaced with LEDs resulting in a 75% power savings. As I mentioned, it is a work in progress, and I would like to add a second panel. There’s room on the roof, and that would double our capacity.

Mounting the panel

More Storage – A Trailer Tongue Box

Jim, May 17:

Bare trailer tongue

During the Big Bend trip, I started to think about refining our trailer and realized that storing jacks and other trailer equipment in the galley complicated our setup. A second storage area would make the galley more convenient and allow Marilyn to start our evening meal while I was setting up camp. I had seen boxes that mount on a trailer tongue, and thought that might be the answer. They aren’t hard to find, and I soon had one on order. Made by Better Built, and 34-inches by 19-inches and 18-inches high, it looked like it would just fit on our teardrop’s small tongue.

The new trailer tongue box

In hand a few days later, it looked great and didn’t weigh much — welded aluminum construction with a locking latch and power-assisted top hatch. Our trailer has a single rail for the tongue however, and it looked like the box was better suited to trailers with a “y” front hitch. Mounting the soft aluminum box on a single rail seemed like a problem — the first time it was leaned upon, it would bend. I decided to get some help from my friends at Vintage Motor to make a stout steel mount. Jason and I quickly decided to cradle the front and back bottom edges with 1 1/2-inch angle iron. These would be welded to other angle iron and attached to the 2 by 3-inch trailer tongue with bolts.

We set to work. After measuring the front and back box edge, Jason cut 16 and 34-inch pieces of 1 1/2-inch angle iron on a chop saw. By placing them under the front and back edge, we were able to mark the precise size and angle using a sharpie. Using these marks, he was able to trim the rails with a pneumatic cut-off tool, and round the rough edges with an angle grinder.

: Cutting support rails

: Does it fit?

: Removing sharp corners

Next, we cut brackets and holes and drilled them to accept the tongue bolts. They were then welded to the rails. There was one bracket per rail, and they were placed so that the rails would be centered on the trailer tongue with a bracket on each side. Finally we drilled four holes on the long rail, and two holes on the short one to mount the box.

: Cutting brackets

: Brackets welded to rails

: Nice weld

: Second bracket welded

Rails and brackets complete, it was time for a test fit. Everything seemed to work, so I set about drilling bolt holes into the trailer tongue. This is very tough steel, and it took awhile — even with the help of my grandad’s 1/2-inch drill. Now we could bolt the rails on, and set the box into them. Last, we drilled holes from the bottom, through the rails, and into the box. It was secured with six bolts as well. We’d had to “fudge” the fit to straighten to box and allow for lid clearance with the trailer, so the front rail was a little off-center. A trip back to the shop to adjust it’s length, and we were ready for paint.

: Drilling mounting holes in the tongue

: My grandad’s old drill

: Mounting the box to the rails

: We’ll make an adjustment to this rail

Now painted, it was time for the final installation. To protect the bottom from being dented, I’ll cut a piece of plywood to fit the inside. The box size seems proportional to the trailer — a lucky break. I was also pleased to see that the diamond plate on the trailer matches the box, both in pattern and rising to about the same height as the diamond plate on the trailer. Looks like a custom fit!

: Rails painted and installed

: Thinking inside the box

: Now for the box

: Finshed installation

Kitchen to Go – Road Food

Marilyn, June 14:

I love to cook! I was a chef at a dude ranch and have been responsible for cuisine on many long distance backpack trips. Now it was time to create a new version of a moving kitchen. I had seen a variety of galley configurations in teardrop trailers that ranged from the highly customized with many built in niches to house everything, to a rear hatch covering a simple space. Ours was the simple space so it was time to become very creative. I started rounding up suggestions from the blogs of dedicated RVers as well as full time teardroppers. One blogger’s words echoed in my mind – being in the middle of nowhere is not the time to forget the can opener or have wine and no corkscrew. Another blogger warned not to forget the practical things like rubber bands, duct tape and super glue. We found a Coleman camp stove, soft-sided sink, a folding rack to hold it all then tried it out in the living room.

Trailer kitchen in the living room.

Some of my backpacking equipment and skills came in handy since storage was at a premium. Finding the necessities – the smallest knives, nifty gadgets, cutting boards, measuring spoons and bowls – that could be used for several purposes. The ability to pack and unpack everything quickly was also a consideration. Then I began to think about menus. Shopping in the bulk section was great. Small plastic bags took the place of bulky bottles. I began with two plastic boxes with lids (you’ll discover why the lids are important later) and began organizing, nestling utensils, dishes and all our other accessories. We recycled two other plastic totes with fold-over lids for larger items. At last, we were ready for meals on wheels and it was time to hit the road.

Utensils and Supplies – a place for everything

Pots, Pans and Wine Glasses

Outfitting the Teardrop

Marilyn, June 2 – 20:

As Jim began to customize our Teardrop trailer, I began to conduct some online research to gather tips from seasoned teardrop and RV travelers. Getting ready involved creating the perfect plan for everything. How does that go? A place for everything and everything in its place – camp stove, bottle of bungees, Coleman fuel, locks… I even found a couple of printable check lists that came in handy. We began a show and tell tour to repurpose our camping gear that took us both down memory lane. I had worked for Eastern Mountain Sports and had quite a few items that would work. We hit Costco and Ikea acquiring a mattress topper, kitchen gear, chairs, a table and more. After reading several blogs about the perils and preparation for a successful trip, we made some adjustments. One story described the aftermath of slamming on the brakes. Two bottles of red wine and one of salsa went flying through the air, landing with unfortunate consequences. Ah, strapping everything down or discovering the beauty of plastic bins. This would prove to an important step later in the trip. Interesting issues popped up. Where do you put dirty shoes, when the entire floor becomes your bed each night?

A place for everything and everything in its place.

All Secured

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: